The South Korean government is enhancing its international investigative cooperation with key countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and the Netherlands to effectively combat overseas copyright infringement crimes.
On June 9, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Copyright Protection Agency held the "2026 International Cooperation Meeting on Copyright Protection Enforcement" at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul.
The meeting was attended by representatives from law enforcement agencies in five countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the Netherlands, as well as officials from Interpol, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSI) Korea office, the Ministry of Justice, the Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office, and the National Police Agency. Private sector participants included the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association, Naver Webtoon, Kakao Entertainment, and the Motion Picture Association of America.
Participants shared updates on copyright infringement incidents occurring in major consumer markets for K-content and engaged in in-depth discussions on international cooperation strategies. They reviewed changes in South Korea's copyright protection policies, law enforcement cases, and the status of infringement responses by the Korea Copyright Protection Agency's overseas offices, as well as reported on the closure of illegal K-content distribution sites and arrests of infringers in Vietnam and Thailand.
Notably, during the K-Webtoon infringement response meeting, attendees assessed the progress of international cooperation cases under Interpol's I-SOP initiative for online copyright infringement and discussed plans for joint operations to apprehend infringers in the future. The I-SOP initiative refers to the international cooperation project where the Ministry of Culture and the National Police Agency of South Korea collaborate with Interpol to address the distribution of online pirated content.
Since establishing the international cooperation investigative framework in 2022, the Ministry has successfully apprehended one operator of Nunu TV in 2024 and two operators of illegal streaming sites residing in Vietnam in early 2025. Additionally, at the end of that year, they captured a heavy uploader who had fled to Vietnam and repatriated them to South Korea.
The Ministry stated, "Online copyright crimes can cross borders with just one click, making it difficult to resolve them through a single country's response. We will strengthen our cooperation with the National Police Agency, Interpol, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSI), and overseas investigative agencies to build a sustainable and robust international investigative network."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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